


Uphill Battle

by WifeofLinBeifong



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AFAB, Action/Adventure, Air Temple Island, Airbending & Airbenders, Depression, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Eventual Smut, Firebending & Firebenders, Fluff, Nonbinary Character, Other, Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Republic City, Romance, Waterbending & Waterbenders, mention of self-harm, tlok - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:08:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WifeofLinBeifong/pseuds/WifeofLinBeifong
Summary: You move to Republic City for a better life and it seems you may have done so. Although you have your challenges, things are starting to look up for you.I'm going to add some more modern things but will try to keep this fairly close to original series.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Reader
Comments: 73
Kudos: 70





	1. Welcome to Republic City

“Fein, not too close to the edge ok?” I yell out to him. 

I can see him playing with a little boy who looks to be around his age while I sit on the bench. We are getting to Republic City in a few hours and it will be dark out. I know I'm going to have to carry him to our apartment when we dock, but I don’t mind, this is the happiest I’ve seen him since I told him we were leaving the Fire Nation. Finding work was getting difficult and was lucky to hear from a friend on the force say there was an opening. After a few hours, People start to hand out food to the passengers. We don’t get much and I let Fein eat most of it. He lays his head down on my lap when he finishes and I cover him with the blanket I had. 

“Can you tell me a story?” I look down at him and smile giving him a nod.

Before I’m halfway through the story, his eyes close and his breathing slows down. He falls asleep fast and I look out to the water. We get to the dock and I gather our things before picking him up with the other arm. I head down the street and start making my way to the apartment. My arms are burning when I get to the door. I place the bags in my right hand down to unlock it. It’s not a big place, but it’s big enough for my brother and I. The beds need to be made before we can get in them and I don’t know which box it’s in. Digging through them, I finally find them in the bottom box and head to his room. While making his bed, I hear the shuffle behind me and look over my shoulder to see Fein rubbing his eyes.

“Just finished making your bed buddy. Let’s get you in some pj’s and off to bed.” After I get him dressed, I guide him into bed and cover him with the blankets.

“Look bud, I know you aren’t excited we moved here, but tomorrow you will meet some new people and make some friends. We will make this a home for ourselves.” He sits up to hug me and I kiss the top of his head. 

Once he’s down for the night, I go around unpacking some boxes before heading to bed myself. I start at the RCPD tomorrow and don’t want to make a bad first impression. I wake up at five like I do every morning and go through my usual morning routine; Work out, shower, pack Fein’s lunch for school, and make breakfast. Fein comes down the steps in the clothes I set out for him the night before and sits at the table just as I bring over his food. He eats quickly as if he hasn’t eaten in weeks.

“Hey, Fein, slow down! We don’t need you choking.” He smiles after taking a bite and slows down. 

After he finishes, I grab my work bag and help him put his backpack on. Just as we are about to walk out, I realize we are forgetting his lunch. I jog over and hand it to him as I lock the door. The walk was nice and not many people were on the street. As we approach the school, Fein stops and stares.

“What's wrong Fire Ferret?” I kneel next to him and he looks over. He’s scared. “I know being the new kid is hard and it’s scary, but it will get easier.” I push some hair out of his eyes, “I’m also going to be a new kid today too. When school is over, I’ll come pick you up and we can talk about our day together. Ok?”he nods and I walk him over. 

I wave goodbye to him and walk to work. I have 15 minutes and don’t want to be late so I start to do a small jog. Once I'm in the building, I head to the front desk greeted by another officer. 

“Hi, I’m (Y/N). I’m supposed to be starting today.” He looks at me and smiles.

“Hi, I’m Officer Song, nice to meet you. I can show you to your desk.” He stands up and I follow him into the office. After he points out my desk, I set my stuff down and thank him. He smiles and walks away.

I’m at the desk next to the Chief's office which I find a little intimidating, but I know it’s an opportunity to show her I'm dedicated. I start to settle in putting some of my stuff on the desk and grab the folder that is on the front right corner. I start to sift through it when I hear a familiar voice. 

“Well lookie here, if it isn’t my favorite earthbender.” I look up to see my pal Lee. I smile and stand up to give him a hug.

“Hey Lee! Thank you again for helping me get this job. You’re a lifesaver.” He chuckles, “How's the family?” I ask.

“No problem kid. The family is good. Have a third hellraiser on the way too!” We laugh together.

“Congratulations man. That’s great. Hey, I gotta get to work, but let's hang out at some point, maybe have dinner.” He nods and walks away.

Just as I sit down, The Chief’s door opens and she walks out heading down to the parallel door at the other end. She looked rather bothered; I’ve heard stories that she’s always like that. I don’t look for too long knowing I need to start working. Looking through the file, I read there have been people disappearing. I’m not very familiar with the city and know I can’t be any help in that department. 

“Hey, you’re the new girl right?” I look up to see a tall boy who seems to be close to my age.

“I mean, i’m not a girl, but yes i’m new.” He has a look of shock and confusion, “I’m (Y/N), I use they/them pronouns,” I lean in a little and whisper, “I’m also not a guy” letting out a small chuckle.

“Oh, I'm sorry I….” he rubs the back of his neck while looking down a bit, not making eye contact.

“Don’t worry about it. Say, you want to help me with this?” I point to the file, “I still don’t know the area that well.” He looks up giving a small grin and nods. 

“By the way, my name is Mako. Nice to meet you (Y/N).” 

“It’s nice to meet you too Mako.”

He sits down and we get right into the case. He pulls out a map and marks the locations, then the station with a different color so I could get an idea of where they were. We work right up until lunch and I head to the kitchenette and find Lee.

“(Y/N), I see you’ve met Mako.” I nod and look over at Mako. 

“Yeah I have. Nice guy.”

I see The Chief walking back into the office and want to introduce myself. As I start to head over, Mako grabs my arm shaking his head, “I would wait if I was you. She has a meeting with the avatar today and she isn’t exactly excited for it.” I step back confused but nod. I head back to my desk and work a little longer before I hear someone say something. 

“You must be (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Didn’t think it would be necessary to talk to me I see.” She snarls.

I’m looking up at Chief Beifong and quickly stand, “No….. I mean…..I guess I just got caught up with the work. I really meant to come see you.” She crosses her arms and looks at the paperwork scattered on my desk.

“Fine. Get back to work.” she walks back into her office closing the door behind her.

I work for a couple more hours but notice it’s 3 PM and I need to go pick up Fein from school. Collecting my belongings, I start to walk over to the door passing Lee giving him a smile. I jog to the school and see he’s one of the last kids left.

“Ma’am, school ended 30 minutes ago. We really need you to pick him up on time.” A woman says. I’m assuming she is his teacher.

“Hi! I’m (Y/N). I’m so sorry but I came as fast as I could. I don’t get out of work until 3.” She seems irritated with my response and simply walks away.

I grab Feins hand and we walk home. He’s telling me all about his day seeming so excited. He’s made a friend telling me all about him. Seeing him happy eases my guilt of moving him away from his friends. I know I didn’t have a choice, but it still hurt to do this to him. We get to the house and he runs straight to his room to put his bag down. I can hear him digging through a box and chuckle when I realize he found his toys. I start to make noodles for tonight's dinner when he comes barreling down the stairs. 

“Woah little man! Slow your roll. What are you doing?”

“Can I go play outside?” He pleads, giving me puppy dog eyes. Seeing as I have a view of the small portion of the yard we have, I nod my head and he bolts out. I open the window so I can hear him if he hollered. 

I finish putting dinner together and begin putting things away and cleaning up. I have some eggs in my hand when I notice someone is talking to Fein. I look out the window to see a man in robes and a blue arrow on his head with a young boy next to him. I walk out with a towel wiping my hands off and come up next to him.

“Fein, what did I say about talking to strangers?”

“But Meelo isn’t a stranger. He’s my friend.”

“Is he now. Well then it’s very nice to meet you Meelo.” I look over at the small boy who has a big smile. I then look up at the older gentleman standing behind him. “And you must be Meelo’s father. Nice to meet you, I’m (Y/N).”

“Hello I’m Tenzin. Meelo wanted to invite Fein to play tomorrow.” He looks at me with kind eyes.

“Well, I don’t get out of work until three and I’d prefer if I was there for the first playdate if you don’t mind.” The kids start to run around playing as we talk.

“That’s more than understandable. Where do you work?” 

“Police station. I’m a new officer.” 

“Ah yes, I heard there were some new officers.”

We don’t talk much longer as it’s getting late and they need to leave. We decided we will meet at the school and leave from there tomorrow. After they leave, I tell Fein to wash up for supper and I set the table. He runs up to the table and sits basically inhaling his food. I give him a look and he knows what it means, slowing down. After dinner, I wash up the dishes and give him a bath. I get him dressed and tuck him in.

“Goodnight my little Fire Ferret!” I give him a kiss.

“Goodnight (Y/N).”


	2. Play Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fein has his first play date at Air Temple Island with Meelo and you get to meet the other residents on the island.

My alarm goes off and I know I have to get ready. I decide not to wear the metal uniform today and go with the fabric one seeing as I won’t be leaving the office and plan on going to Fein’s friends house. I put in a little more effort with my appearance today but putting some gel in my hair to scrunch it. Once I’m dressed for the day, I head to the kitchen and pack Fein’s lunch and make Hotcakes for breakfast. I hear him come running over to me yelling, “I have a playdate today!” 

“I know. Are you excited?” I ask even though I know from his glowing face it's an obvious yes.

We eat our breakfast and head out the door. Our walk was a little slower since we left the house earlier. Once we are close enough to the school, He darts in Mello’s direction and they are jumping around playing. 

“Meelo is very excited to play with Fein.” I hear Tenzin say.

“Oh it’s very much reciprocated.” We laugh and watch the boys for a few minutes.

“Would you like a ride to work? I have a meeting with Lin anyways.” 

“I’d appreciate that. Thank you!” Of course, our ride wasn’t what I expected. 

We walk over to his flying bison and he can tell I've never been on one before. Helping me up, he sits near the bison's head and I hear a “Yip Yip” before we start to fly. I grab hold of the saddle and look around to see Republic City from above. We weren’t too high, but it was further than I thought I’d ever see it. We come to a landing and he helps me down.

“Thank you Tenzin! I'm early, this is great.” I smile at him and we walk up the steps. As we pass Officer Song and Lee, I wave and say good morning. Tenzin walks beside me . I walk over to my desk and place my things down.

“Have a nice meeting!” He smiles at me and walks into The Chief’s office. 

I began working on the case we started yesterday and Mako eventually joined me. We are coming up with theories and the biggest one that makes the most sense is the Triple Threat Triads. While we work, we hear voices being raised, mostly coming from Chief Beifong. Mako doesn’t seem phased by it and Tenzin exits not long after. He walks over to my desk.

“Have a good rest of your day (Y/N)! I’ll see you and Fein around 3.” I flash him a smile and he walks out. I look over and see The Chief glaring at me before going back into her office.

Today, I work through lunch so I can use my break to change into my civilian clothes. I walk back to my desk in black jeans and a colorful button up with a black tank top on underneath. I switch into my converse at my desk and stand to grab my things. Mako waves bye and I’m off. I start to jog to the school so I can get there faster and see Tenzin with the two boys. As I come up towards them, I see Fein running towards me and I ready myself for him to jump into my arms. “Hey there little man! I missed you! Are you ready to play with Meelo on Air Temple Island?” He nods aggressively. I place him on the ground and he runs towards the bison with Meelo with Tenzin and I following behind. I keep a close eye on Fein and Meelo while we travel to the island. As we are sliding off the side of the bison, two little girls race towards us on air scooters. 

“Hi! My name is Ikki! I’m Meelo’s older sister. Who are you?” it's like she was spitting her words out her mouth with rapid fire. It was rather overwhelming but can’t blame a kid for being energetic. 

“Ikki! Give them some space!” Ikki slightly bowed her head and I felt bad.

“My name is (Y/N). It’s very nice to meet you!” She whipped her head up to me with a smile from ear to ear.

“Hi (Y/N)! I’m jinora, the oldest” she was a rather calming person for her age and seemed nothing like her siblings. I gave her a smile and a nod as I noticed others coming out of the temple. 

Tenzin told me he was housing some people, but I never thought I would get to meet the Avatar and her friends. They sit outside with Tenzin and I talked for a little while and they started to ask about me and Fein.

“How old are you? You seem kind of young to be a mom. Were you a teenager when you had him?” Tenzin glared at her and his face grew red.

“KORRA!” I chuckle lightly at the question and assure Tenzin it was ok.

“I’m not his mother, I’m his half-sibling. I’ve been his legal guardian for a little more than four years now and i’m twenty years old.” I didn’t realize a new face had joined and was standing behind me until I felt his hand on my shoulder.

“Where are your parents? Why aren't they taking care of him?” Tenzin gives another look at Mako this time who started to take his seat next to me. He then looked over to me,

“You don’t have to answer that (Y/N)” I look down and can sense everyone’s eyes on me. My smile disappears.

“Well, my mother was an earthbender, my father a firebender, and they had me. My dad left my mother and met another woman and had Fein. One night, they came to visit me and some men came into the house. I was ordered to take Fein with me to the attic while the adults fought them,” I look up and sigh, “I was found in the morning by the police and I found out my parents as well as Fein’s mom had been killed. They were going to put us in the orphanage, but we would have been separated, so I took my chances on the street” Everyone was shocked.

“I’m so sorry” I feel Tenzin’s hand touch my bicep and he gives a reassuring look and thanks me for being comfortable enough to share it.

There’s a moment of silence before Fein and Meelo come running over to us begging for a snack. Tenzin brings them in and I get better acquainted with Team Avatar. They tell me stories, share some jokes, and for the first time in a while, it felt like I was making friends. I’d always been so dedicated to taking care of Fein, I never had or gave myself the chance to make friends. It was starting to get dark and they invited us to stay for dinner. The boys sat together talking and laughing the whole time. After dinner, I thank them and we head out to leave. I’m holding on to Fein’s hand and he talks the whole boat ride over to the city about how much fun he had. We are making our way through the city when Fein pipes up.

“Can we listen to music while we walk?” I raise an eyebrow at him. 

“Walk or dance?” He smiles and I hand him my phone to play his favorite playlist.

He dances until we are in front of the station and turns to me, Sing and dance with me (Y/N)!” He’s basically commanding me and I can’t say no to that face of his.

When mama said that it was okay  
Mama said that it was quite alright  
Our kind of people had a bed for the night  
And it was okay  
Mama told us we are good kids  
And daddy told us never listen to the ones  
Pointing nasty fingers and making fun  
'Cause we were good kids

People passing us as we danced down the sidewalk gave him smiles and highfives and even a few drivers honking their horns. Many of Fein’s favorite songs played and I was relieved his energy was dying down.

When we start to pass the school, Fein gets tired and it was my cue to carry him the rest of the way home. Once we are in the house, I put him right to bed and sit on the couch to relax. I have my head laid over the back of my couch when I feel my pocket vibrate. I check my phone and see Korra added me to a group chat with the rest of Team Avatar. 

Korra: Welcome to the chat (Y/N)! 

I push myself off the couch and make sure the whole house is locked up before going to my room. I switch into my pj’s and fling my body into my bed. 

I wake up early from pressure on my chest and open my eyes to see Fein made his way into my bed and is basically laying on top of my body. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him a little before knocking out again. I wake up a few hours later with Fein’s foot in my face and his head is on the other end of the bed. I smile at the sight and get up to get ready for the day. I decided to skip my workout for the morning thinking it would be nice to use the training room at work. As I walk over to the fridge, I look at the calendar for any events or plans we have for the month and notice the anniversary is coming up. Fein has never been affected by it, but is also too young to understand what it truly means. Before pushing it to the back of my mind, I remind myself to ask Tenzin if Fein can sleep over. Although we haven’t known them for long, Meelo seemed like a friend that would stick around and I know the family which makes me comfortable with Fein being in their care for 72 hours. It’s the first year I can properly mourn my loss. I have two weeks to go to prepare.

Once I finish preparing all of the food, I go back to my room to wake Fein and give him his bath. As I dress him up, He talks about some fictional heroes he and Meelo created and a storyline they created for them. Just when I finish tying his shoelaces, I hoist him on my back and run down to our kitchen making swishing noises making it seem like he was flying and occasionally yelling his characters name. I place him at the table and get him to eat his breakfast and we get out of the house to start the day. 

“Hey Fein? Did you have a bad dream last night? I didn’t want to ask right away” He looks down at the ground and his smile turns into a frown. “Come on Bud, you can tell me”

“There was a monster and I had to protect you, except, I couldn’t bend like you. How come you can bend and I can’t?” He looks up at me still frowning but also with a true look of curiosity.

“Well, I don’t really know, but you may still become a bender. I didn’t get my bending until I was six. Give it some time Honey.” That seemed to cheer him up and his dazzling smile was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. Should I do a Valentine's Day chapter?


	3. Not So Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have your trouble, but start to question why everyone describes the chief as cold and mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing fighting scenes isn't really a specialty here. I need some practice.

It’s been a week since the playdate and know I need to get the question out there. Tenzin and his family being the only ones that are aware of my family's story, I don’t want to ask the parents of Fein’s other friends to house him and care for him for an entire weekend.

“Go on buddy! I’ll see you after school” I kiss the top of his head and walk over to Tenzin. 

“Good morning (Y/N)!” 

“Hey Tenzin! Look, I know i’ve only known you for a few days, but not many people know about my parents and I have a favor to ask of you.” He looks over with soft eyes.

“How can I help?”

“The anniversary is coming up and I've never had the chance to properly mourn the loss of my parents. Do you think Fein could stay at Air Temple Island that weekend?”

“Why of course!” He smiles down at me as I thank him immensely and realize I need to get to work. 

On my jog to the station, I look at the time and see I’ll be late if I don’t move faster and go into an all-out sprint. Just when I see the station building, I have to come to a sudden stop before I run into someone; Chief Beifong. She shows a moment of shock before glaring at me again.

“Chief Beifong, I am so sorry. I didn’t see you” 

She growls and starts to walk away before barking in my direction, “Get to work”.

Without hesitation, I run into the building and get to my desk. I don’t wait to start work. In the last week, Mako and I had gone through a lot of paperwork and checked a lot of leads. Some of them were promising, but we still haven't found any evidence of the missing citizens or the people taking them. I can’t possibly understand how we haven’t found anything, deciding to look through all of our files again. Using a new notebook, I write down all of the information I feel is worth writing down.

13 citizens missing  
Firebenders: 4  
Earthbenders: 7  
Waterbenders: 1  
Non-benders: 1

There were also things in the file about their locations which is what confuses us every time. These people have disappeared all over the city with no trace. Mako comes over and just before he can sit, I stop him.

“Do you think we could have missed anything when we checked out the locations of their disappearances?” He furrows his brows seeming in thought before replying.

“I mean, it’s possible. Would you like to look again?” I nod and grab some of my belongings. 

For most of the morning, we are searching around the locations and it’s not until we are looking at the 7th place we find some blood on the brick wall. It was light but just noticeable. I used my phone to take a picture of it and checked the rest of the area before moving on to the next scene. We are in the car and nearing our next stop when I look into an alley. 

“Mako stop the car! I saw a couple of guys attacking someone!”

We pull over and run to see a girl on the ground beaten badly and the two guys surrounding her. One of them grabs her and starts running towards a car. Mako chases after them with me, but is pulled back and stalled while I continue the chase for the young woman. I can hear fighting from behind me and see the man running to a car. He throws her in the back and rushes to the drivers side starting it. Knowing I won't make it, I use my bending to encase the car from driving away. I go to the side and take down a portion of the wall I put up and carry the woman to safety. Once I have placed her down, she leans against me and I call in the situation to the station. I hear someone running towards us and bend a structure to block us from people, but hear Mako’s voice and lower it.

“How is she?” He asks, kneeling down to look at her.

“I think she’ll be ok. I called this in and they are on their way.” He nods before looking at the walls I put up to encase the car. He looks back at me, “Impressive” I chuckle.

In the distance, we hear sirens and they are getting closer. I look over my shoulder to see one of the station's cars driving up and the chief jumping out. She furrows her brows when seeing the encased car and then proceeds towards us. Some officers pick the woman up off of me and I stand to look at the chief. 

“Are you hurt?” She asks looking down at my jacket; there’s blood.

“It’s not mine” I assure her.

We fill the others in on the events that took place and helped bring the criminals to the station. Just as I am walking into the office, I see Tenzin at my desk with Fein. Just as I’m about to run up, Mako grabs my arm and points to my jacket. I quickly remove it and hand it to him, but it doesn’t do much good since it has soaked through to my shirt. I run over to my desk and Fein turns to me. He has some blood on him.

“Oh my god! Oh god Honey, what happened?” I cup his cheeks but he looks down with a frown. I look at Tenzin.

“There was a problem at school between him and another young boy. He…..” He lets out a heavy sigh and Fein speaks up in a quiet voice.

“He told me I’m from a broken family.” My eyes widen and I can see out of the corner of my eye Lee, Mako, and Chief looking at this unveil.

“Listen buddy, we do not come from a broken family. You and me, we are a family and nothing will ever change that. Ok?”

He nods.

“I love you so much. Now give me a hug my little fire ferret.” 

Mako comes over and picks him up letting me know he can clean him up. Once they are out of my view, I lean on my desk and a few tears roll down my face. I quickly wipe them away when the chief asks me to go to her office.Thinking I am going to get chewed out for having my brother at the station, my heart races more. 

“Are…..Are you ok?” she asks. I can barely find my voice and reply shakily “Yes” with a nod.

“I didn’t realize you were a single mother”

“I’m um...I’m not. That’s my half brother. I’m his legal guardian.” She nods to show she was listening. ”I’m sorry for the disturbance. It won’t happen again.”

“Don’t sweat it, but good to know.” there's a moment of silence before she speaks up again, “So is he a firebender?”

“No. at least no sign of him being a bender yet. I’m not sure if that's a good or bad thing.” I let out a small chuckle and she arches an eyebrow confused. “Well, he’s a handful already, I don’t know if I could handle him bending.” She chuckles.

“Take the rest of the day off. You’ve got your hands full and you did good work today” I look over to her, 

“Thank you Chief!” As I'm leaving her office, Fein comes running over and I pick him up before I can close the door to her office, “Look at my fire ferret, good as new. Say, it's almost lunch. How about you and I go get some noodles for home?” he nods aggressively with a big smile. 

I look to the chief at her desk, “I’ll see you tomorrow chief.” and I shut her door.

Tenzin accompanies us on the walk to get lunch then gives us a ride home. As we get off, I send Fein to head inside while I thank Tenzin for being so helpful. When Tenzin leaves, I eat with Fein and spend the rest of the day playing with him. As I’m putting him to bed, I feel like he has questions for me.

“Hey bud, I want to talk to you a little,” I rub his back, “We aren’t broken, but I know it's different having your sibling raise you instead of your mom and dad. Do you have any questions about that?”

“Why don’t we have a mommy or daddy?” he asks.

“We do, it's just that they……...got hurt when you were a baby” 

“Can you tell me about them?” I nod and lay next to him hugging him in tight.

I spend an hour telling him stories about our parents and how great they were. I unfortunately don’t know a lot about his mother. Once he’s asleep I tuck him in and wait five minutes before leaving. I go straight to bed instead of cleaning. 

I sleep in longer, skipping my usual morning routine and quickly get ready and bring Fein to school. I rush through the morning so I can get to work earlier. Once there, I put my stuff away. The Chief’s door is open and I figured I would reach out.

I knock on her door, “Good morning Chief!” she looks up at me.

“How are you feeling?” 

“Better. Thank you for asking”

“Good to hear” 

I was about to walk away, but stop myself, “Hey Chief?” she groans as her response, “I was gonna go to the training room. Would you want to work out with me? Maybe spar?”

She looks up at me and leans in her chair staring at me thinking over my question. She simply nods and stands up. We walk there together and as we walk in, she yells for everyone to get out. I certainly did not think we would be in here alone. As everyone clears out, Chief and I change into our workout clothes. My outfit consists of short shorts and a sports bra. She’s out before me and when I leave, I can see from the corner of my eye she took a few glances at me, or rather my outfit. I’m tempted to say something, but keep my mouth shut. I do some yoga to warm up, then begin my workout. Before I get too tired, I look over at the chief.

“Want to spar or are we just working out today?” she finishes her set and looks over at me. She gives me a nod and we go over to the sparing area. 

Our basic rules for the spar were hand-to-hand for today. We were both in ready position and I made the first move. She blocks my punches, I block a kick of hers, and she makes contact with my side with the other foot. She uses that time as an opportunity to kick my feet out from under me. As we go through a few more rounds I try to finish it with a kick. She grabs my ankle and I pull back bringing her with me. I roll over so I’m on top pinning her to the ground. I give her a smile before saying anything.

“I think I’m done for today. Still have to work today, so I have to save some of my energy.” I roll off of her and stand up reaching a hand out to her to help her up. 

As we are walking over to the bench, she looks over to me, “You’re good. Next time we’re bending”

“You got it!” I grab a cup of water and hand it to her before grabbing my own. I check my phone and see the date.

“Well shit,” I let out a small chuckle and the chief looks at me, “I guess I should say happy Valentine’s day” She furrows her brows and glares at me. 

“I despise the holiday”

“Me too, but I guess that’s because I haven’t found anyone yet.” She chuckles lightly.

I look over to her and realize she has the same qualities I'm looking for in a partner, “I guess I need to find someone, well, like you.” Her eyes widen as she nearly chokes on her water. 

“What?”

“Well, Chief, you’re passionate, strong, smart, thoughtful, caring, and……… if you don’t mind me saying so, beautiful.” I look over and she has a slight blush and is trying to hide it while keeping her usual Beifong scowl. I chuckle and nudge her arm before walking away. Just before I walk into the locker room, I turn to look at her.

“So like I said, It seems i’m looking for someone like you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I posted this later in the day. my decision to write the chapter like this was last minute. I hope you liked it though!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Chief Beifong is unable to get the correct info from the criminal, you go in yourself to give it a shot. Some risky things are said and Chief is beyond furious with you. You see the side of her personality everyone has talked about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please know that I am a gay author and I do not discriminate against anyone. 
> 
> THERE ARE NO SLURS AND I WILL NEVER USE ANY! I PROMISE YOU THAT!

I have about fifteen minutes before the Chief and I are supposed to go into interrogation, so I use the time to look at the man's record. He has been arrested for assault, robbery, abduction, and more. He’s a member of the Triple Threat Triads. The Chief walks out motioning for you to follow her.

“You are to listen. Do not speak to him. You are simply observing.” She orders. 

She seemed so upset since our workout, I hope it wasn’t the comment I made about her personality. Maybe I made her uncomfortable and should apologize. Before I can even have the chance to say anything, we are in the room next door with the double sided windows surrounded by other officers. Best not to speak up about it around others. She instructs me to watch from this room while her and the other officers leave the room. It’s a few minutes before she goes in. The man tenses up at the sight of her and she doesn’t wait to start. Anger stays painted on her face during it. With each question, I noticed small things like he would get defensive or look away from her. This seemed to anger her more causing her voice to become raised. This peaks the man's interest in getting a reaction out of her. He started to feel confident in his answers, but still folded his arms and occasionally looked away. I don’t trust the information he’s giving her. She finishes her interrogation with him and returns to the room without a word, so I decide to break the silence.

“I don't trust what he told you” She turns to me, eyebrows furrowed.

“Excuse me? And what gives the right to voice your opinion? You are here to watch and nothing else.” she barks.

“I think he’s lying-”

“Well then, since you are such a detective, why don’t you enlighten me.” She steps towards me into my space looking down on me. 

“Well Chief,” I take a deep breath in, “he seemed overly confident, got defensive, folded his arms, lacked eye contact, and only seemed intrigued when you got upset. Children do the same thing and when people grow up, they think they will be better at using those tactics, but they aren't.” She glares at me, “Fien does it now, and instinctively, even as an adult, I do the same thing. I’m not saying this to challenge you.”

She glares at me for a few seconds before backing away, “Fine. then what do you suggest we do?”

“Let…..let me go in.” she scuffs, “I’m serious.” I look down, “He may have seen you as a challenge. Sending me in there might make him slip up. He could give information without realizing it.”

“What do you mean he may see me as a challenge?”

“Well for one thing, you’re chief of police. Another thing is you raised your voice with him in there. I’m thinking-”

“Stop talking! You better hope you do well in there” She turns away from me and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding in. I guess I saw that side of her everyone was talking about. 

I have a feeling in my stomach telling me I just screwed up big time and I turn to leave. Once I'm out of the room, I walk over to the wall separating it to enter. The guy looks at me and laughs.

“What? Did the big bad Chief of Police get upset?” He asks in a baby voice.

“Those are quite the defense mechanisms you got there. You sound like my brother, and he’s five. Do me a favor and stop acting like a baby.” He gets a little enraged by the comment and starts to raise his voice.

“You’re calling me a baby!? Why I should send some of my boys after you to teach you a lesson or two.”

“Oh so threatening a cop now? Yeah, don’t think that helps you bud.” He glares at me and I know I'm getting under his skin. I walk around the room a bit occasionally looking at him. “So if you want to send your ‘boys’ after me, then you must be the boss. I didn’t think you kinds of guys ever did the dirty work yourselves.”

He chuckles and looks away. “Oh, i’m sorry, did I say something wrong?” He looks over at me with a sly smile. 

“You seem pretty confident” He leans in a bit towards me and speaks in a quieter tone, “that I won’t get out of here, otherwise, you wouldn’t be talking to me like this. I’d be careful if I was you.” He lets out a laugh.

I can’t let him see my reaction to that and let out a chuckle of my own. “How do you plan to get out? You are in the middle of the station with a lot of officers and the Chief. Doesn’t seem possible to me.” His smile stays but the look in his eye changes, like he’s up to something.

“Why don’t we change the subject. Tell me, why’d you attack that young woman yesterday?” He looks away avoiding the question, “Let me guess, she rejected you and what you have in your pants and you felt that was an insult”

His head quickly snaps towards me and his smile is gone, now we are getting somewhere. 

“Or did she say something about you and your friend? Are you two a couple? You seemed really close.” His face becomes red and he tries to get out of his cuffs to attack me.

“I’M NOT GAY!” 

“Ok. I believe you” I say it with a certain tone so he thinks I’m lying.

“How about you come over here and I’ll prove to you just how much of a man I am?” I give him a look and it infuriates him.

“My girls at the club seem to be fulfilled after our meetings.”

“Oh, so you work from a club, huh?”

His eyes widen and he realizes he messed up. He starts to move trying to work his way out of the cuffs again yelling at me as I walk to the wall with a smile on my face. Once in the room next door, the Chief looks irritated at me. 

“Are you insane?” I make it look like I'm thinking before I look back at her. “Do you think this is a joke? You just wasted my time so you could simply insult the man? Pack up your desk, you are so fired.”

“Chief, he just gave a location as to where he hangs out which means that’s possibly where others in the group hang out too. That right there was a lead. I know it was risky the way I got it, but it’s done.” I look at her and although her irritated look doesn’t disappear, she lightens up a bit.

“And Chief, look, I’m sorry if my comment from this morning upset you or made you uncomfortable. That’s the last thing I would want to do. I just thought everyone deserves to hear something nice on valentine’s day, whether they hate the holiday or not.” 

I’m turning away to leave and as I grab the knob, I see it lock on it’s own.

“I’m sorry,” she lets out a sigh, “I just……….i’m not used to hearing compliments. I know how people describe me, I know they say I'm cold and heartless.”

I look at her and realize, she hasn’t been complimented in a while, too long. I walk up to her and cross my arms leaning on the table with her, “I meant every word” I look at her and she nods with a small blush trying to hide it. 

“I gave you the verbal apology, now let me buy you dinner, I feel horrible about how I treated you” 

“That's sweet, but unfortunately, I have to watch Fein tonight.” I look over to her, she still looks guilt-ridden. I lean towards her and nudge her and duck my head to look up at her face, “hey come on, give me a smile. I don’t like seeing you upset.” She rolls her eyes and I see the smallest smile form. I flash her a smile and stand grabbing her arm to pull her up as well. I walk to the door pulling her along and she yanks her arm out of my grip, she’s giving me a look.

“Don’t look at me like that, let’s go catch some criminals.” I open the door for her and she immediately returns to usual Chief Beifong scowl. I chuckle softly as I follow behind getting a glare from her with the corner of her lips curving up. 

When we walk into the office, we see some officers. The Chief instructs them to go into her office. I’m about to sit at my desk when she pokes her head out, “What are you doing? Get in here.” I stand up and walk into her office. The officers tell us about another few spots of blood at the tenth and thirteenth scene. I take the opportunity to show the picture I took the day before. Mako writes everything down and marks some things on our map. We start to notice a cluster, and the chief says there just happens to be a club in that area. 

She looks at me, “I think a thank you is an order. Good work in interrogation, kid.” pairing it with a nod.

“Thank you Chief!” I grin at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was shorter, but you will love the next chapter.


	5. Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out to be the best Valentine's Day not just for you, but for your new friend as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Needed some extra time to write this one.

As I jog up to Fein’s school, I hear laughter, screaming, and feel a gush of air to my left. 

“(Y/N)! (Y/N)! Can I sleepover Ro’s house?” Fein yells as he tackles my right leg. 

“Let me talk to their parents first bud” He points me in their direction to a couple and their little boy. As I get closer to them, their attention switches to me.

“Hi, I'm (Y/N), Fein’s sibling. It’s nice to meet you!” I put my hand out to shake theirs. 

“Hello! We are Ro’s parents. It’s nice to meet you too!”

“I hear a sleepover has been conspired. I wanted to make sure you were in the know and were ok with it.”

“Why yes we are, thank you. We would be delighted to have him over!” Tenzin has filled me in on some of the families from the school and I feel comfortable letting Fein go.

The Rains are supposed to pick Fein up about five which would then leave me to celebrate valentine’s day alone. I have Fein packed up and made sure the slip of paper with all of my contact information was available. I haven’t a clue what to do with my night opening up and I’m sure the Chief’s offer is surely off the table now. While waiting for Fein’s friend to show, we have a quick dance party and sing along to some of the latest hits on the radio. I’m unsure if I should be worried he knows the words or not seeing how most songs nowadays are kind of sexual; at least he doesn’t know what they mean. There's a faint knock at the door that I just barely hear over the music. As I open the door, I look at Fein and his bright face, “Ok bud, hey,” he almost runs past me before saying goodbye, “You have an awesome time and you call me if you need absolutely ANYTHING. Ok?” He nods and I give him a kiss on the cheek and hug before he runs to the car with Ro.

I’m not particularly hungry and decide to walk around the city to learn my way around. Isn’t that nice? A romantic walk…….ALONE. I’m starting to get an idea of how to get around this area of the city finding my way to Avatar Korra Park. The sun has mostly set and the lights are glowing all along the paths. I sit by the pond looking at the turtle duck and her ducklings. The sky is almost dark and you can just barely see the stars. I lay on my back looking up at them and begin singing.

Keep me here  
My heart is near  
My love has gone away  
Tell me true  
My heart is new  
My love has gone away  
It's okay  
I know someday I'm gonna be with you  
It's okay  
I know someday I'm gonna be with you

“Nice voice you got there” I nearly jump when I hear the familiar voice. I look to my left to see Chief leaning on the bridge railing with a grin. “I thought you had to watch Fein tonight?” arching an eyebrow and squinting her eyes adding a smile so I know she isn’t upset.

I stand and walk her way, “Fein got invited to a sleepover last minute” I lean on the bridge next to her, “So hear I am spending the night alone.”

She lets out a chuckle and nudges me, “Come on, now that you’re free, i’m buying you that dinner and this way we won’t both be alone on this wretched day.” I giggle following her and eventually catch up.

We walk in silence with the occasional glance and smile at each other while she guides me to a cute, small restaurant. It’s a fire nation place run by a firebending family. It’s like she read my mind knowing I missed it. We are seated in a little booth that has the diners sit together rather than across from each other leaving little room between us. She places the menus in front of us and leaves giving us time to decide what we would like. 

“Would it be ok if I get a drink?” I point to the menu, “Kind of in the mood to try the Frost Bite” She glares at me, “What? Is that a no?” I laugh.

“If you were old enough to drink, i’d say yes, but seeing as you are still underage-” She cuts her sentence short as I chuckle and dig into my pocket to grab my ID. I flip it around to show her my birthday. Her eyes widen and dart back to mine, “It’s your birthday?”

“Yeah. I’m not really a fan of my birthday, and not just because it’s on valentine’s day.” I look down and feel the heavy conversation topic coming up.

“Why don’t you like your birthday?” She asks. I don’t bother looking back up.

“It’s kind of overshadowed by a painful anniversary. The day……...the day my parents were killed. It’s on saturday. That’s why I'm taking the whole weekend off.” I keep my eyes focused on the menu to avoid looking up and I feel her hand on top of mine. 

“I’m sorry for your loss (Y/N). We don’t have to talk about it if you’re uncomfortable” I nod and thank her for understanding as she gives my hand a squeeze.

The waitress comes over, the Chief places her order first and orders my drink as well before I tell her what I would like to eat. The Chief tells me some stories about the weirdest arrests she made in hopes to cheer me up and each one leaves me laughing. My favorite was about her and another officer trying to find a criminal, the officer yelling out ‘Marco’ into the empty building, and the perp responded with ‘Polo’. That one had me dying. Our food comes out shortly after and we keep the conversation going. I share my weirdest jobs, crack some jokes, and talk about some of the absolute worst dates I've ever been on. The Chief lets out a genuine laugh with each story and I love hearing it. It feels so nice to be out with someone and enjoy myself. When we finish our food, the waitress grabs our dishes returning with some others singing happy birthday to me. I look over to the Chief and we smile at each other as I mouth the words ‘thank you’ to her. She reciprocates by giving my hand another squeeze. Once they finish, they hand me two spoons and walk away.

“Gee, I wonder how they knew” I say in a sarcastic tone as I hand her a spoon. 

She shrugs before laughing, “Happy birthday (Y/N)!” 

“Thank you Chief!”

“Lin…..you can call me Lin” I smile at her as we toast with our spoonfuls of cake.

“Well thank you Lin! This means a lot”

She pays for the meals and we walk outside. It’s dark and she insists on making sure I get home alright. 

“You said you live near the station right?”

“Kind of. It’s about a thirty minute walk”

“Come on, the station is this way, I’ll drive you home”

We walk in silence taking in the city and seeing all the citizens who are still out enjoying the night. It’s a little chilly causing me to shiver. I didn’t think it was noticeable, but was to Lin as she put her arm around me and rubbed my arm. 

“Almost there,” She says. I feel a bit of heat on my face and hope she doesn’t notice.

Just before we turn the corner, she removes her arm from me and I see her face switch to the usual Chief scowl. I can’t help but giggle every time I see her change the look on her face like that. As we climb into her car, I settle in leaning my head back and she starts her satomobile. I give her my address and feel a wave of exhaustion come over me. 

“(Y/N)? Hey (Y/N),” I open my eyes feeling Lin softly shake me and realize she’s in the doorway of the passenger side, “Hey, we're here. Come on, let's get you inside and in bed” she walks me to my door and unlocks it for me. 

Before I walk in, I face her, “Thank you again Chi- Lin. This meant the world to me. I can confidently tell you this is the most fun I've had in years” Before she can respond, I give her a hug. She stiffens a little at the contact but eventually hugs me back.

“You’re welcome! I’m glad I could give you such a nice birthday experience. As your gift, I’ll let you come in late tomorrow”

“Can we spar?” I ask, smiling at her.

“Oh what the hell, why not” She waits for me to walk inside before going back to her car and driving off. 

I’m absolutely exhausted but want to shower before going to bed. Knowing we are sparring tomorrow though, I don’t waste time washing my hair knowing i’ll have to do that tomorrow. I quickly wash my body and climb into bed and think about the night I had with her. I’ve actually made a friend. This was by far the best birthday I've ever had and I can’t help but smile while thinking about my night. Her laughs replays and her smile just keeps flashing in my head. She was so relaxed and seemed so at peace. I fall asleep soon after feeling nothing but pure joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish we heard Lin's lugh in the show rather than just chuckles, but I'll take what I can get.


	6. Extended Sparring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin doesn't say it, but you getting injured scares her.

It was a relaxing morning listening to music as I made breakfast and coffee. I’m listening to my favorite playlist dancing around the kitchen treating myself to hotcakes. I dance around the apartment after eating while I get ready for work, but hear the music being interrupted by chiming from my phone.

Korra: Hey (Y/N)! We want to hang out with you again!  
Bolin: Yeah!   
Oh, and I want to spar you!  
Korra: OOOOO ME TOO!  
Asami: You guys, chill. I thought you wanted to hangout, not attack.  
Mako: Why aren’t you at work yet?  
(Y/N): I have Fein tonight. Sorry guys. Let’s plan for next week.  
I was told I could come in late. I’ll be there in a little less than an hour.

I wear my sparring clothes under a tank top and work pants before bending my armor on. I grab my things and head out the door. I bring my portable speaker with me for my workout since Lin and I are going to be the only ones in the training room. I’m about halfway to the station when I feel a buzz in my pocket.

Mako: Chief wants to know when you’re coming in.  
(Y/N): I’ll be there in like 15 minutes.

As I’m walking into the station, I stop at my desk to put my things down before heading to the training room. On my way, I pass Lin and she tells me she will be there in ten minutes. The room is empty when I get there so I start my music, take off my armor, and begin stretching. I start with doing a sun salutation and work my way into doing pigeon. I slowly shift my leg further up until I’m nearly in a split.

“Well someone is flexible” I turn to see Lin.

“Oh you have no idea” I chuckle before doing the same with my other leg. 

“So are we going to spar or are you staying on the floor all day?” I swing my leg around to knock her down and smirk at her as I stand up.

“So are we going to spar or are you staying on the floor all day?” I respond mockingly as I put my hand out to help her up.

“You are so going to pay for that” she says through gritted teeth, adding a smile so I know she’s not seriously mad.

“Bring it sweetie” Lin stops in her tracks after I say that, making me look back and furrow my brows. “You ok?” She just looks at me for a second then looks down continuing to walk towards the sparring space.

“Lin, hey, are you ok?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just, no ones ever used nicknames like that with me before”

“If it makes you uncomfortable I’ll stop”

“No it’s ok, I just have to get used to it” I nod and head to my side. 

We are doing simple hand-to-hand combat for the first few rounds. I block some of her punches and a kick before landing one of my own on her side. She grabs my foot keeping it between her side and arm so I can’t move it; I have to try to get loose. The best I can do is kick off the ground and twirl using the momentum to bring her with my foot. She lets go and is forced towards the other edge. She comes charging at me throwing some punches landing them in my stomach and one to my side then swiftly kicking my feet out from under me. I lay there for a minute as she smirks down at me.

“I told you I'd make you pay for that little stunt…….sweetie” I chuckle while I get up.

We do a few more rounds and our wins are tied. I’m determined to make this match mine. We are using our bending now and we are both hurling rocks at each other. I kick three in her direction following right behind them surprising her as she tries to block my attacks. I slide on the ground towards her pushing her at the ankles and she falls on top of me. I quickly flip us over and bend some earth around my legs so she can’t move me and pin her arms to the ground with my hands slightly above her head. She uses her knees to try pushing me off of her above her head not knowing I pinned my own legs and I only moved forward a little which ultimately put my chest right above her face. I slowly move back so we are face to face and see a bit of a blush that wasn’t there before. Both panting I try to get out my words, “Mercy?” She simply nods her head but before we can move, someone comes barging in.

“They’re escaping! The Triad guys are getting out!”

Both Lin and I look at the guy with wide eyes and I undo the earth around my legs rolling off of her. Lin runs to put her armor on, but I don’t bother and run towards Lee.

“Where are they?”

“THEIR IN THE TRUCK!” 

Instead of taking each step, I jump down all of them and roll towards the doors. I’m running barefoot down the street and jump onto the wall bending it out to launch me across the street landing next to the truck. I grab on to it just as they start to pull away and climb to the top of the truck crawling towards the front. I grip the bar on the passenger side and swing the bottom portion of my body out smashing the window in and kicking them. Once I'm in, I elbow them in the face, knocking them out. The driver puts up a fight, but one of the guys from the back yanks on me and I start flying back. I grab his shirt to take him with me. We crash into the back doors, falling out. I can see Lin metalbending to the truck and she lands near me. 

“(Y/N)!”

“I’m fine! Go!”

As I am getting up, I don’t notice the man charging at me and get tackled right back to the ground. He strikes me a couple of times before I'm able to kick him off. I’m starting to get tired and try to roll over and get up. I hit him with my bending a couple times but see something flying towards me. I’m unable to block it and I feel a sharp pain in my side and scream out in pain. I use the little energy I have left to send three boulders his way knocking him into the building and restraining him to it. I look down at my side and find a small blade piercing it. I look over to the truck and see Lin get tackled herself. She is pinned down so I grip the blade and take a few deep breaths before pulling it out. I smash my hand down to the ground sending a block of earth to knock the guy off of Lin. I stand up and go into a sprint jumping up and hurl the blade at him. It pegs his clothing against the truck. The amount of pain in my side makes me weak and I have to hold myself up with one hand while I use my other to put pressure on my wound.

“(Y/N)!” Lin rushes over to me and looks at the laceration on my side.

“I’m ok. I’m ok” I pant out. She puts her hand over my wound and I lean on her before I close my eyes. I don’t remember anything after that.

When I come to, I look around, my eyes meeting with the healer working on me. I’m slightly uncomfortable but keep quiet and close my eyes to try to relax. She moves to a particular spot on my side and I squeeze my eyes shut and grab the sheets as I let out a groan. She doesn’t take too long to finish this session and I’m soon left alone. I hear the clicks of footsteps approaching to see Lin looking down at me. 

“Hiya Chief! How’s it hanging?” I smile at her and she arches a brow.

“Really? You get stabbed, pass out in my arms, and the first thing you say to me is ‘How’s it hanging?” She furrows her brows, seeming upset, “You should have been wearing your armor. I wouldn’t have had to carry you to a healer while you were bleeding out”

“You’ll learn fairly quickly that I’m chronically stupid and try to make a joke out of everything. Even traumatizing things” She shakes her head and walks towards the cot.

“I’m serious (Y/N)” Her eyes soften as she looks down at me and sits.

“Oh, Lin, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” I grab her hand and give it a squeeze. I look at the clock and see it’s three in the afternoon. I try to sit up but at a certain point, the pain is too much, “I have to get Fein” She helps ease me back down.

“I picked him up. Mako is watching him right now. Take it easy, I want you to get one last healing session before leaving today” 

“Is the Chief of Republic City showing concern for her friend?” She glares down at me, but softens at my smile.

After my last session, She walks me to the locker room to get my work pants and tank top on before going to her office to get Fein. He runs up tackling my leg and Lin has to help me keep my balance. He buries his face in my hip, gripping at my pants. I have Lin help lower me to the floor so I can be at his level. It must have been scary to get picked up by the police not knowing I was hurt. I sit him in my lap and hold him wrapping my arms around his body assuring him I’m ok. He then rests his head in the crook of my neck and starts to cry. I rest my head on his and look at Mako and Lin. I continue to tell him I’m ok, rocking him back and forth until he calms down. Lin picks him up and holds him while Mako helps me up. I start to grab my bag, but Lin takes it from my hand and grabs her keys.

“I’m driving you home. I want you to see the healer again tomorrow. I need you healed” I follow her out getting a hug from Lee and a wave from Mako and Officer Song. 

She buckles Fein in while I get myself situated in my seat. Once she gets in, she starts her satomobile and brings us home. She continues to carry Fein into the house and I point out his room for her to put him in bed. She comes down the steps and looks at me on the couch. 

“Why don’t I make you some dinner while you rest?”

“Oh you don’t have to, I already ate today” She raises her eyebrows and walks over to me

“What do you mean? You ate breakfast and think that's enough?”

“It’s normal for me to only eat once a day” Her eyes widen and she sits next to me.

“So what you’re saying is I have to be worried about your wellbeing at work and home too? You need to eat more.” She looks concerned. I’ve never given my eating habits a second thought until now.

“I guess I still have the eating habits from when we were living on the streets” 

“I’m making food for you and I’m making extra for you to eat tomorrow” 

She stands up and walks with me to the kitchen and cook's me dinner. I tell her about my experience living on the streets with Fein. Most of the food went to him which led to me being lucky if I got food every other day. She simply reminds me I’m not in that situation anymore and she expresses more of her concern. I promise her I will try harder. She stays a little longer as I open up to her about the last few years occasionally earning me a sympathetic apology or a squeeze of the hand. She cleans up, not allowing me to help with anything then leaves for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I just want a partner to care for me like this even if I'm not hurt.


	7. Intrusive Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything starts to return to normal except for some thoughts about Lin. they start off innocent, but that changes quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to warn you there is smut in this chapter. It's just a warm up for me since I've never written smut before.

When I wake up, I nearly jump thinking I'm going to be late, but remember I was given the day off to heal. I still need to get Fein to school so I wait an extra hour before getting out of bed to make his lunch and breakfast. He comes into the kitchen to sit at the small table and starts eating his food.

“Morning buddy! How did you sleep?” He looks up with a smile and gives me a thumbs up.

I change into some black leggings and a crop top to walk him to school. As we walk out, I let him know I’m seeing a healer again today and will be as good as new which seems to make him feel better. I hold my hand out so I can hold his and we continue walking to the school. Once in the school yard, I let go bending over to kiss his head, “I love you bud! Have a great day and I’ll see you after school”. He runs to get in line and I hear Tenzin come up behind me.

“How are you feeling? I heard you were injured yesterday” He looks slightly concerned.

“I have my last healing session today, an eval with Beifong, then I can return to work. It was just some Triad punks” I chuckle but Tenzin doesn’t.

“And how about this weekend? Do you need anything?” I shake my head and then hear a car horn. I turn to see Lin getting out. She walks over with her usual scowl.

“Good morning Lin, you look lovely” She growls at him then looks at me.

“Be nice” I say in a joking tone which earns me a few pebbles bent at my back. I let a yelp out and see Lin smirking. I glare at her and Tenzin lets out a low cough to remind us he is still there. “I should go with her before I get more pebbles thrown at me” I chuckle and pat his arm as I begin walking away. 

Lin drives me to the station and walks with me to the healer to see the progress of my wound. I’m instructed to lay on my side so she can get to my wound more easily. Lin is telling me she wants me to go to the gym to warm up and she’ll be evaluating my process to be sure I’m ready to return to the field. She leaves and I have to get her when the healer is done. I lay there and find myself thinking about her. 

She’s such an amazing person and I can’t understand why she doesn’t have anyone in her romantic life; at least not that I know of. She has an amazing smile, is so helpful, caring, beautiful, and is amazing with Fein. I would be lucky to find someone who is like her, although, do I have to settle for someone like her? Is it weird I’m kind of attracted to my friend who is also my boss?

The healer finishes and I exit the room to find Lin. After thinking of her like that, I’m a little nervous to talk to her. When I walk into the office, some of the older officers start to howl at me because of my outfit and I see Mako and Lee smack some of them in the arm and Lin’s door flies open.

“Get back to work! You all just earned yourselves an evaluation day!” I walk up to her and she gives me a look making sure I’m ok. I simply nod and keep my head down when we walk back. As we walk into the training room, she looks back to me.

“Are you sure you're ok?” I nod and go to the locker room to change into my workout clothes and when I walk out, Lin is by the door, “You’re quiet, you aren’t ok”

“I just want to forget that happened, please”

“Ok,” she puts her hand on my shoulder, “Lets see what you’ve got. Just earthbend the best you can, but don’t push yourself”

She has me start off aiming at the target they have on the wall, hurling decent sized boulders there. She then sends some boulders my way and I have to dodge them, block them, or redirect them. I’m successful until the last boulder, getting knocked down, but get up immediately. Seeing as I did so well during those, we do two rounds of hand-to-hand combat and she deems me fit to re-enter the field. Before she can start walking away, I ask her to wait for me so I don’t have to walk back alone. She agrees and waits for me on the bench. I shower as fast as I can so she isn’t waiting for long and change back into my civilian clothes. I walk out and she stands leading me back to the office. When we get in, I head to my desk and she stops before walking into her office.

“You want to do your paperwork in my office?” I nod and grab my things trying to get out of the officers view as quick as possible. As I set up by her couch, I look up at her settling down at her desk.

“I’m not usually bothered by guys cat-calling me”

“I’ll make them regret opening their mouths, trust me” I smile, feeling my cheeks get warm.

We spend most of the time in silence doing our work and occasionally glance at each other. Every time she catches me, I dart my eyes back to the files on the table and feel my face get warm, luckily, Lin doesn’t say anything. I move from the couch to the floor and rest my head on the table while I continue to write. My hand cramps every so often and I have to take a break, stretch out my hand. Lin gets up leaving the room but returns with two sandwiches. She places one next to me and goes back to her desk.

“Come on, eat” she gestures to the sandwich and I grumble while picking it up. “Don’t give me that. Eat regularly and I won’t have to nag you” I chuckle and dig into it. 

I get back to my paperwork for a little while, but my hand cramps again and I begin to get tired of paperwork. I drop the pen from my hand and collapse on the floor with a groan of annoyance. I swing my head in Lin’s direction and she’s smiling at the sight.

“I didn’t think I could hate something so much. How do you do it?” 

“It’s my job, that’s how” I let a slight chuckle out and pick my body up to walk over to her desk. I sit in the chair but drape my legs over one of the arms and look back at her. “Five minute break and then back to it. Your shift is almost done” 

I lay my head back thinking I’ll be quiet, but before I realize it, I open my mouth.

“Tell me a bit about yourself”

“What?” She looks up at me, eyebrows furrowed.

“I opened up to you a lot, I think it’s only fair you do the same” She scuffs but I know she sees my point. She leans back in her chair to look at me.

"Ok, um……...I joined the force when I was young, but I never actually wanted to,” I furrow my brows at this knowledge and her gaze lowers to her lap, “It’s stupid really, I joined to please my mother, but it didn’t” I sit up in my chair to look at her but she keeps her head down. 

That’s heavy information. I don’t know what to say to that, but I have to acknowledge her. I stand and walk around her desk. Her gaze follows me until I pull her into a hug. This whole physical affection thing must be new to her because her body tenses up. She eventually relaxes and returns it. I have my arms around her neck and she had snaked her arms around my waist. She rests her head against my chest and I feel her grip get a little tighter. I feel my heart rate pick up, but this moment is about her, not my confusing feelings towards her. We stay like this for a few minutes with my right hand entangled in her hair rubbing my thumb back and forth and when she pulls away, her cheeks are red. 

“Lin, are you ok?” I say in a whisper.

“Yes…...I um-,” She looks up to my eyes, “Thank you” I know she’s holding something back, but I don’t want to push her.

I return to the floor to work on my last few forms I have in the file, occasionally glancing at Lin to be sure she’s ok. She dove back into her work and hasn’t said anything the entire time. My alarm on my phone goes off for the end of my shift spooking both of us. I reorganize my things and ask Lin to walk me out.

Before I leave the premises, I turn to Lin and offer a smile, “Are you sure you’re ok?” 

“Yeah I’m sure” I’m about to leave but she stops me, “Oh and (Y/N), we are planning something with the club, do you want to be a part of the case? You were good in interrogation, we could use you for this one”

“I’d love to help! Thanks for asking. Tenzin is getting Fein from school tomorrow so I can stay later to go over everything if you want” She simply nods and sends me on my way. 

Fien is very excited about tomorrow. Having just told him about his weekend at Air Temple Island, he bounces around on our walk to the apartment. We get into our usual routine of him playing while I prepare our meal for the evening. It’s rather quiet and other than Mako, I haven’t spoken to the gang in a while. I grab my phone and start a group facetime call being greeted with all of them in one square. They seem to be on Air Temple Island. The only one that doesn’t answer is Mako, but he’s at work so that makes sense. We catch up, they tell me about their most recent adventures until Asami speaks up.

“Will we be seeing you at the station tomorrow?”

“Yeah, why?”

“We are helping the Chief out with a Triad case. Something about a club”

“Then you’ll be seeing a lot of me because I'm on that case too” Both girls and even Bolin let out a squeal of excitement. They chat with me and we tell them some stories of our flirtatious moments with people until I finish dinner and call Fein down. “Hey bud, say goodbye to them ok?” He waves at all of them with a smile as he crawls onto the chair.

“Oh my god so cute!”

“Bye Fein!” I hang up and we eat up as I discuss the plan of him spending the whole weekend with the airbenders. 

Once dinner is over, I wash the dishes, and meet Fein in the bathroom for his bath. He splashes me a few times and I do the same to him. After his bath, I get him dressed and pack up a bag for his stay at Tenzin’s. I tuck him in telling him a story to help him drift off. It doesn’t take too long before I can leave to get to bed myself. I change into a long sleeve shirt that's two sizes too big for me and skip wearing pants. I fell asleep quickly.

She pushes me against her desk and metalbends both of our uniforms off. She stands behind me and begins to kiss my neck, the sensation is marvelous. The soft kisses start to become more powerful and are accompanied with small nips, her hands travel around my waist and up my torso to my breasts. She gives them a squeeze and plays with my nipples through the fabric. One hand travels back down my body and trails along my thigh causing me to buckle my hips back towards her. Her hands roam to my back and she bends me over her desk. With a swift motion, my pants are pulled down and she leans over my body to whisper in my ear.

“I want to hear my name come out of that dirty little mouth” The hot air sends a shiver down my spine and a hand grips my ass giving a quick squeeze before moving to my cunt.

She teases me but starts to bring me near the edge by curling her fingers causing me to moan out, “Yes Lin!”

My body is burning up and my inner thighs are soaked. What the fuck just happened? The throbbing between my legs is becoming very distracting and snips of the dream keep flashing in my head. I look at the clock and I’ve only woken up two minutes before my alarm. Maybe an intense workout and cold shower will make this go away. Exercising doesn’t help, but the cold shower seems to help get rid of the sensation leaving me with just the memory, confusing thoughts, and a little shame. She’s very attractive and has a great personality, but I don’t want to ruin the first real friendship I've had in years; It’s not like she’s dealing with these kinds of thoughts. I proceed to the kitchen to make Fein’s food. He joins me soon after for his breakfast and still looks rather tired; me too brother. I grab his overnight bag for Tenzin to take at dropoff and we head out for the school. When we arrive, I’m greeted with Tenin’s smile and kind words.

“Good morning (Y/N)! I take it you’re healed?”

“Yeah I am. Since you have Fein, I’m actually helping work a new case today. Gotta stay later for it. I’m excited!”

“Good, I’m glad”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! One more chapter and then we are changing the view point. That change will only last one chapter but thought it would be good to change it up a bit.


	8. Here’s The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the dream starring Lin, you try to get through a day of working with her.

When I walk into the office, I’m thankful to see Lin’s door is shut. After the dream I had about her, or I guess us, I’m rather nervous to be around her, nevermind talk to her. I sit at my desk and simply dive into the work on my desk. I’m assuming the discussion about the Triad case won’t happen until Team Avatar comes in since they are supposed to be helping. Mako walks in, but doesn’t have the rest of his gang with him. As I begin to work on the report, my mind drifts back to the dream and rather, why I had it. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s beyond stunning, but what we have is a friendship and I still don’t even know that much about her. I’ve noticed her looking at my workout clothes before, or was she looking at my body? Shit now this just got more confusing. I must have gotten deep into thought because a hand is being waved in my face.

“Earth to (Y/N)! Anybody home?” They start to poke at my head and I look up to Lin. Once it registers who is in front of me, I feel my heart beat pick up. Her voice and hands are just a reminder of the dream and that unnerves me. “Hey, what’s going on with you?”

I sit there staring at her for a few seconds before I realize I have to answer her, “Hey, um…... nothing”

“Are you sure? Did you sleep okay last night? Did a nightmare wake you or something?”

“I wouldn’t call it a nightmare…...just, out of the ordinary dream” I can feel the heat creep up my neck and over my cheeks as I give her a weak smile.

“Okay, well, the Avatar and her friends are here so let's get this meeting started” She begins to walk back to her office and I sit there for a minute trying to collect myself. God, this day is going to be difficult. I take a few deep breaths and stand up.

When I walk in, everyone is already in place surrounding Lin’s desk and I notice the only available spot is to the Left of her. I close the door behind me and walk over staying quiet and nodding as the team greets me. Bolin even comes over and pulls me into a bear hug. Mako and Korra have to help me pry him off my body; he attached himself like I was his life support, he certainly has a lot of love to give. I stand back in my space and try not to look at Lin, I can already feel my heart rate picking up again and just notice out of the corner of my eye she keeps glancing over at me. We move onto our case as Mako and Lin explain all the evidence we have as well as telling everyone about the interrogation I had with the guy. They start throwing ideas around and I don’t really pay attention, being so nervous. It’s not until I hear my name that I’m brought back to reality.

“What if (Y/N) was the ‘bait’ and they went in? We would all be recognized in a heartbeat, but (Y/N) on the other hand, well they would blend right in” I look at everyone to see their reaction. I’m personally fine with doing so, at least, that is until Korra speaks up. 

“Yeah! Plus, maybe you can work some of your magic to get one of the guys out of the building and share some information” I fix my gaze on Korra not understanding what she meant by that, but she cleared it for me pretty quick, “Turns out they are quite the flirtatious person, even with men” My eyes widen but I quickly start to give her my best scowl as she smirks at me. 

“Is that so?” Shit, now Lin is thinking about it. I didn’t need her to know that. “If they are ok with going in, I’m all for it” I look in Lin’s direction and notice she also has a smirk. Lin’s going to end up arresting ME because I'm gonna kill Korra.

“Um….sure…..I mean, I guess” I rub the back of my neck and I want to throw myself out the window that’s behind me. I’m definitely blushing now. 

“Ok, the rest of us can be in a few vehicles parked along different parts of the street and if you need anything, we are there for backup” I simply nod averting my eyes from everyone. 

Mako grabs a pen and starts to mark the club as Lin grabs a file on some known Triple Threat Triad members that she knows are not in our custody. I scan the faces and grab a file to read it over. I want to go into the club prepared and I notice some of them are benders. As I place one folder down and move to grab another, Lin’s hand grazes against mine and she must have noticed me stiffen because I can see her look at me. She doesn’t study me for too long seeing as there are others in the room. I busy myself reading the file to avoid any contact with her. I know I shouldn’t, she knows this is out of the ordinary for me, but it’s the only way I can cope with this situation. 

The meeting gets cut short because everyone is getting tired of Bolin’s ideas to capture the guys and needs a break. As I’m about to walk out with Asami and Korra, Lin asks me to stay back for a minute. I should have gotten out faster, I should have yelled saying I need the bathroom like Bolin does on occasion, but it’s too late. I turn and sit on her couch while we wait for the others to shuffle out. Lin is close behind them closing the door and locks it. 

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or do I have to beat it out of you?” She chuckles, amused with herself, but realizes I'm quiet. She walks over towards me and out of instinct, I back away. 

“First you’re all spacy at your desk, then you’re quiet during that whole meeting, except for the fact that I could feel your heart going a mile a minute, you froze up when my hand accidentally brushed against yours. What the hell is going on with you?” I slightly look up at her face trying to find my words.

“I….I’m sorry. I-” I rub my eyes with my hands and drag them down my face releasing a sign, “I’m just stressed that’s all” She makes her way to the couch and sits next to me.

“Is this about tomorrow?” 

I wasn’t thinking about that until now and the moment I had to run up to the attic with Fein replays in my head. I can feel my face get warm and my eyes start to sting. Lin shimmies closer wrapping her arms around me, laying back into the cushions resting my head on her shoulder, and rubs circles on the palm of my hand. 

“Focus on the circles I’m drawing on your palm. It helps, I promise” She whispers to me.

I reposition my head to look at my palm and her thumb drawing the circles. My vision is blurry from the tears, but I get the idea. My breathing starts to slow down and not as many tears are being formed. That method really works. She doesn’t stop the movement on my hand until there’s a knock at the door. Before she returns to her usual Chief Beifong state, she wipes some of the remaining tears away and gives me a sympathetic smile. Knowing how I love the switch between her caring persona to her Chief Beifong one, she is sure to make the change when I'm looking at her. The switch has a giggle escaping my lips and she walks over to see who it is. The team is ready to get back to work and she looks at me. I wipe my face and give her a nod, standing, signaling I'm ready to get back to work, and only then does she move out of the way so the others can rejoin us. 

Lin works with Mako, Bolin, and two other officers that were assigned to the case while Asami, Korra, and I talk over the wardrobe. I need to look the part and although I've never been to a club, I have quite the amount of club outfits for anyone to think I’m a frequent flyer. We all reconvene as Lin explains the plan. One last time, mostly for Bolin’s sake. We are planning this operation for Tuesday.

“So what time should I be getting to the club?” I ask.

“Let’s say 8?” Lin says.

“No. Go at 10. It’s late but that's when the people who frequent clubs arrive. Any earlier and you’ll stand out” Asami looks to me as she speaks then we both look to Lin. 

“Alright 10 it is. But I'm dropping you off a few blocks back so you aren’t walking as far” I nod. 

Now that everyone has been brought up to speed, people start to shuffle off, but Korra and Asami stay behind. Asami wants to talk makeup and hair with me for the club. I entertain her with makeup talk, but want to surprise everyone with my hair. Lin hands me a sandwich as she passes by giving me the knowing look. A quieter alarm goes off and I scarf the food down as I walk out of the building. 

(Y/N): Tell Chief I have an appointment that pertains to the case and I’m grabbing my clothes for the club. Then I'll be back.  
Mako: Got it!

I go to a shop down the street and walk in to be greeted by an older woman.

“Hello! Appointment for (Y/N) (L/N)!” She guides me to a chair and asks me to take my armor off. 

I’m only there for an hour while she cleans up and I pay before heading back out to the rest of the city. As I'm walking home, I try to think about my Lin problem. There’s no reason she needs to know this is going on, I mean, I guess these thoughts aren't hurting anyone. I’m sure it's because I spend so much time with her, I just need to reel the thoughts in when I’m around her, and at work. When I walk in the house, I go to my room and make a b-line to the closet. I grab my clothes and shoes, placing them in a go bag to keep in a desk drawer at the station. I head back to the station to start on the paperwork I have piling up on my desk and know I’ll be at the station late tonight. As I walk up into the station, Officer Song greets me, shocked by the change. I walk into the main office with the other officers and some gentlemen look up at me including Mako and Lee. I bend over to put the bag in my bottom drawer and when I stand straight, Lin is at my desk. Her eyes widen and she simply stares.

“You-You cut your hair” I had my hair cut just above my shoulders and the left side buzzed.

“Yeah. Needed a fresh look for the club and it feels nice to have a shorter length, kind of freeing” I flash her a smile and she continues to stare. “You ok?”

Her usual scowl comes back and she nods before returning to her office, closing the door behind her. Huh, maybe I can even go as far as to tease her mildly, like with my outfit for the club. I know it's rather revealing, but it’s suitable for the moment, and is perfect for this little bit of fun. I sit at my desk to start my work. Paper after paper, file after file, my hand starts to cramp again. I look at the clock and notice it's around the time Fein and I would eat dinner. I decide to go across the street and grab a meal for myself. As I cross the street, I think of all the times Lin has fed me and bought me food and it’s time I return the favor. Once they bring my order out, I cross back over waving goodbye to Mako as he heads to Air Temple Island. A lot of the officers are leaving for the night when I walk to Lin’s office. I could spend some time teasing her, but I have to give her a proper thank you for earlier. 

Knock Knock

“What?” She barks out. When I walk in, she lets go of her Chief demeanor and sits back in her seat.

“Between all the food you’ve gotten me and the constant support you give me, the least I could do is buy you dinner once” I lift the bag as I walk over and place it on her desk.

“You didn’t have to” 

“I know, I wanted to” I smile at her as I pull her meal out and place it in front of her, “And don’t worry, I have food for myself as well” 

“Oh and give me your phone”

“Why?” I ask as I hand it to her.

“I’m putting my numbers in. You need me, give me a call” 

“Thank you Lin! You are truly one of a kind” She shares a joyous look with me before I return to my desk for a quick dinner break and paperwork.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will be from Lin's point of view.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING for chapter 9! There is mention of self harm and method of it, although no one does act on it. No gory details but I know it can be triggering for some people when it's simply mentioned.


	9. I’m here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While you took the weekend off to mourn the anniversary of your parents murder, Lin is at the office finding it difficult to work without your presence and worries for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!!!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!
> 
> THERE IS MENTION OF SELF-HARM AND METHOD, HOWEVER, NO ONE ACTS ON IT SO THERE ARE NO GORY DETAILS. 
> 
> IF THIS IS SOMETHING YOU STRUGGLE WITH AND DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE OR FEEL ITS BEST YOU DO NOT READ IT, I WILL TRY TO POST A RECAP OF THIS CHAPTER IN THE COMMENTS BY TONIGHT1 I ALSO WANT TO SAY I'M HAPPY YOU ARE STILL HERE AND PROUD OF YOU FOR HOW FAR YOU'VE MADE IT! ALL OF MY LOVE! XOXO

The office is nearly empty other than the officers from the overnight shift sitting at their desks as I walk to my office. I close the door behind me and look at my desk. The stacks of files filled with paperwork I have to fill out only makes me dread today. I slowly walk towards my desk and sit in my chair, taking a deep breath before picking up my pen and getting to work. I’ve had a few officers come in to talk to me and my door was now being left open. It’s around the time (Y/N) would normally come in and I hope they’re doing ok today. Since they took the weekend off, I won’t be seeing the earthbender until Monday. I could always go check on them, but they probably just need their space. There’s a knock at my door to bring me back to reality and see Team Avatar. They are helping with another case and all shuffle into my office chatting away with each other. 

“Let’s get started”

“Where's (Y/N)?” Bolin asks in a rather loud voice for this early in the morning.

“They took the weekend off. Can we please discuss the case?” They all nod with pouts missing the younger earthbender. 

We managed to get through a lot of the information and discuss tactics and theories before Bolin spoke up. I swear, that boy must have been hit in the head a lot. I let out a growl and scowl at the boy before metalbending a thin sheet over his mouth. Mako laughs at his brother who is trying to pull it off and I even smile at the sight of the kid struggling. The girls take a video of the boys' spasms and I even hear Korra say she’s sending it to (Y/N); they’ll get a kick out of it. We resume our talk with interruptions from my officers every so often, but finally come to the end of our meeting.

“Should we be worried about (Y/N)? They always answer our texts” Korra asks her friends.

“Give them some space” I reply.

“You know why they're out? What’s going on?”

“I’m not telling you. What I will say is give them their space today” I start to usher them out of my office as they bombard me with questions, or more so Korra and Bolin. I thought they would have known about this day, especially since Tenzin is watching Fein this weekend; these kids aren’t that bright apparently. 

I try to return to my work, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the earthbender myself. They basically fell apart yesterday when I asked them about it. I could feel the fast pulse through their hand as I was drawing the circles on their palm. (Y/N) calmed down with my touch which I've never had happen with anyone before. Hell, they even have an effect on me; they make me feel comfortable and safe, and have gotten me to open up. This kid does things to me and they don't even realize it. It’s nearing 4:30 when my thoughts are cut off by the ring of my phone.

“This is Chief Beifong”

“Lin?” It’s the faintest whisper that sounds strained, “It’s (Y/N)”

“What’s wrong? I can tell you’re crying” It’s quiet on the other end except for a few sniffles.

“Can you come over please? I need help”

“Are you hurt?”

“No. Please Lin, I need you”

“Ok,” I say in my best reassuring voice I can produce, “take a few deep breaths, I’m leaving now” I hang up the phone and grab my things walking out with my scowl to hide the concern I’m feeling for the earthbender. 

I’m driving a little faster than I’d like to admit, nervous to find what has (Y/N) so shaken. The streets are busier since it’s nearing the end of a work day for a lot of people and get stuck at every light; It would have been faster if I was metalbending there. I finally turn onto their street and jog to their door. After a few knocks and no answer, I turn the knob and it’s unlocked. The apartment is dark, curtains covering the windows, except for a light peeking through a cracked door. I walk up the steps to the door and push it open to find (Y/N) sitting on the floor, leaning against the shower, pulling their knees into their chest. They are staring down at an open box with a few razors. When I look at the box, I realize why they needed help. I kick it behind me and kneel in front of them. 

“Hey look at me! Did you act on it?! Let me see” I grab their hands and don’t see any broken skin on their wrists.

“I didn’t do it” they whisper to me. I sit to their right, wrapping my arm over their shoulder as they lower their legs to lean into me, revealing the faint scars on their thighs. I swivel slightly so I’m facing (Y/N) and wrap my other arm around them, placing my head atop theirs.

“I’m proud of you for calling me and not acting on the urges. You’re so strong” I wipe away a few remaining tears with my thumb from their tear stained face. We sit there as I hold them close to me, feeling their pulse slow down and they shut their eyes.

I pull away to look into their eyes before I pick them up, carrying them to the couch. I push the curtains back to get some light. “You need to eat something. Stay here and I’ll make you some food”

With (Y/N) in my view, I head to the kitchen to get some food and water. When I bring it over, they don’t eat much, only picking at it, then rest their head in my lap, looking up to me. I comb my fingers through the short brunette hair and grab the hand resting on their stomach, giving it a squeeze. I don’t avert my gaze except to drape a blanket over the tired bender. The emotional earthbender’s chest rises with each shaky breath, eyes closing, and the grip on my hand loosens; they must be falling asleep. I can’t help but gently pull them closer, the contact reminds me they are safe and unharmed. They clearly haven’t slept in the last two days, burdened by the grief of their loss. 

You poor thing. I’ve never cared for someone like I care for (Y/N). We've only known each other for a few weeks, but there is something about the earthbender that is calming, I mean, other than the fact that I occasionally get nervous from the close contact. They never voiced it, but understand my need to keep my reputation untainted. So mature, caring, understanding, dedicated, and…..stunning. Hell, I've had to hide a lot of blushes and thank the lord they can’t sense my heart rate, or I'd be found out. 

We stay in this position for nearly two hours, when I begin to get tired myself. I don’t want to leave them alone, worried they might have the urge to hurt themself again, but I also don’t want to overstay my welcome. Slipping out from under their head, I carry them bridal style to the bedroom up the stairs at the end of the hallway. The blanket is still wrapped around their body and I gently place them on the bed. I give one last look, running my hand across their cheek and without thinking, kiss the top of their head. I stand to walk away and head home, but (Y/N) grasps my hand and holds it looking up at me.

“Please stay,” They say weakly, “I don’t want to be alone.” They begin to pull me towards the bed, but I stop myself just short of the edge and back away. The hurt on their face is evident thinking they did something wrong. Giving a smile, I bend my armor off and walk to the other side of their queen sized bed. 

“I’m not going anywhere kid” I sit next to them as they roll to face me, laying on their stomach, “I’ll stay with you all night if that's what you need” The tension in their face and body lightens as they close their eyes. They snake their hand against the mattress and grip mine. Although they aren’t looking, I shift my body down the bed so I’m level with them, taking their hand in mine. With this contact, I can feel the earthbenders heart rate speed up slightly.

“You ok?” I whisper. 

“Mhm” 

As I watch over them, I take in their features. The naturally pale skin, light pink lips that look so soft, short but tightly shaped eyebrows, and the newly cut brown hair. They have such soft features which match their personality. They’ve only been kind and caring since I met them, even when I was rather aggressive. And even with all of that in mind, they still feel comfortable enough to turn to me when they are in need. (Y/N) is a truly amazing, one of a kind person that I feel lucky to have gotten to know. I’ve never been one for talking about my feelings, but I think I care for this earthbender as more than a friend.

Once I’m sure (Y/N) is asleep, I slip my hand out of their grip to get up; I want to check that everything is locked and I need to get rid of the razors. I slowly roll off the bed, checking quickly that my movements didn’t disturb them. I quietly make my way out of the bedroom walking around to check doors and windows are locked and secure. I walk into the bathroom and kneel to pick up the box. I use my bending to levitate the razors in front of my face, focusing on each piece of earth within it. The safest thing to do with the metal is make a sphere until I can get it out of the apartment; I don’t want any sharp edges. I return to the room and pull the sheets back, laying next to (Y/N). I take one last look and tangle my hand with theirs again, then close my eyes letting the fatigue take over my body.

I usually wake at four in the morning, from a nagging alarm, but the earthbenders alarm doesn’t go off until six. Seeing as this is the usual time I walk into the station, I can only imagine what the officers are saying. I don’t open my eyes immediately, but feel a sense of heat and pressure disappear. I open my eyes looking up to the ceiling and turn my head to see the young earthbender sitting on the edge of the bed, looking to the floor. I sit up and crawl next to them, sitting on my feet to look over to them; their eyes are shut and they are gripping the sheets. I place my hand on their opposite shoulder and rub my thumb in a back and forth motion.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better, just still tired”

“You aren’t working today. Go back to sleep and get some rest” They don’t move, so I scoot back and hold their arm, giving a slight pull guiding them to lay down. I pull the sheets down and back over their body. I rub circles on their arm while I sit watching over them until they can fall back asleep.

Rest easy earthbender.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Writing from Lin's POV was actually more difficult than I thought, so props to all the writers who have successfully captured Lin in her view.
> 
> Have a great day and keep an eye out for the next update!


	10. Not A Burden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin spends the day with you to be sure you are ok and you thank her for everything she's done constantly.

When I open my eyes, there is a little light coming in through the curtains and I realize I'm alone in the bed. Lin must have left after coaxing me back to bed. I can’t blame her, she was here for nearly twelve hours. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay her for what she did for me. I don’t get up immediately, taking in the warmth and light shining on my bed where Lin was. When I do finally get up, I make the bed and grab my things for a shower. I open the door shocked to see Lin sitting on my couch reading the newspaper. She doesn’t notice me yet and I lean against the door frame looking at the wonderful sight; I’m happy she stayed. She looks over the half wall and makes eye contact with me giving a soft smile.

“Hey,” she says quietly, “Did you sleep ok?” 

“Yeah…...aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Actually, today is my day off, I’ve just never taken it”

“Oh ok.” I look down at the floor to hide my grin, “I’m gonna take a quick shower” I shuffle to the bathroom and close it behind me.

I twist the knob and feel the temperature of the water as it starts to sputter out. Once I’m satisfied by the heat, I strip and step in, letting the water run over my head and down my body. I’m still readjusting to my new haircut and think of Lin’s reaction when she first saw it. My mind shifts to yesterday's events. When I go over each moment in my head, I realize just how much I must have scared Lin.

I shouldn’t have put her in that position. This is the last thing she needs to deal with and I made her leave work early. Then she actually took her day off because she’s still worried about me and I can only imagine the damage control she’ll have to do when getting to the station; that’s my fault. I mean, jeez, if I thought I didn’t have a chance with her before, I just sealed the deal. 

I finish washing my hair and scrubbing my body before stepping out the shower, wrapping a towel around me and my hair. I wash and moisturize my face then brush my teeth. I take my hair out of the towel as I walk out and rub it against my damp hair as I make my way to the bedroom. I sift through my drawers until I find my fire ferrets crop top and black shorts; some would call them my booty shorts. Before pulling them on, I put my jasmine scented lotion all over my body. I walk out with a sweater in my hand and join Lin on the couch. I sit on one foot while my other leg is upright against my body so I can rest my chin on my knee.

“I’m sorry if I scared you yesterday, I didn’t mean to” Lin lowers the newspaper to look at me, “I shouldn’t have asked you to come over, I shouldn’t have worried you-”

“I’m glad you called and asked me to come over. It takes a lot of strength to ask for help and I’ll always be a call away, no matter what” She reaches over and rubs my arm, offering a sweet smile to assure me she means what she said. 

At this moment, all I want to do is hug her, so I do. I wrap my arms around her and nuzzle my head into her neck, “Thank you Lin”. For the first time, she doesn’t flinch or stiffen from the contact and returns the hug. She’s so warm, her skin is soft, and smells like earth which is soothing. I begin to back away and position myself so I’m sitting by her side again, looking over to her. “I’ll be honest, right now I know you mean it, but in the future don’t be surprised if I don’t believe you, “ She shifts so we are facing each other and gives me her undivided attention, “When I get really depressed, I tend to believe I’m a burden to everyone. That’s why I had Tenzin take Fien; I didn’t want him seeing me like that” She raises her hand to my chin and runs her thumb along my jaw.

“You are not a burden. Any time, anywhere. You need help, I’m there” I nod as we stare at each other. God, how can a woman be this beautiful?

The moment is only broken because she tells me I need to eat and has cubed fruit and tofu made for me in the kitchen. I haven't eaten much since friday, so my stomach is screaming at me for sustenance. I don’t even bother leaving the kitchen to eat since I'm shoveling the food in. When I return to Lin’s side, she almost doesn’t believe I ate and is tempted to check the kitchen for the food, but refrains from doing so. While Lin finishes reading the newspaper, I take the time to respond to texts I ignored the day before.

(Y/N): Sorry for not responding yesterday. Had to deal with a few things.  
Asami: Don’t worry about it. Hope everything’s been taken care of.  
Mako: Have you heard from or seen the Chief? She didn’t come in today.  
(Y/N): No I haven’t.

I take a moment to show Lin the group chat so she knows what she's up against tomorrow. She grins and shakes her head, seeming unfazed and almost amused by it.

Korra: When can we hang out?  
Bolin: Yeah! I miss you!   
(Y/N): How about Tuesday night after we finish at the bar? I won’t have Fien for the night.  
Asami: Works for me!  
Korra: Same here!

Other than spending time with Lin, which I enjoy so much, I’m finally going to hang out with people who I can call friends. I haven't been able to call people friends in five years other than Lee. Lin puts the newspaper down and looks at me, “How about I get dressed then we go for a walk? It would do you good to get out of the apartment” I nod in response and she pushes herself off the couch to head to my room. She simply only needs to put her armor on and I slip my converse on before we exit the building. The sun is shining and there is a slight breeze, but it’s nice, refreshing. 

“Look, if I’m overstepping by asking or you don’t want to talk about it, I’m sorry and I understand, but how long have you been clean of self harm?”

“No, it’s ok…….um, I guess method doesn’t really count, so um, I just reached 4 months”

“What do you mean, method?”

“Well, you helped me with one yesterday, but” I pull the sleeve of my sweater back enough to show the inside of my forearm, “I also struggle with scratching. I don’t stop until it’s raw and unbelievably painful” She holds my arm while tracing the scar with her thumb. 

She’s at a loss of words staring at my arm not sure what to say to me, “I’m ok, Lin” She looks into my eyes and I can’t pin what look she’s giving me, “Look, I know that yesterday was a big deal, but I got through it. Plus, my thinking isn’t always bad. I have Fein, Tenzin, Team Avatar, Lee” I grab her hand and hold it close to my chest, “ and you in my corner. That’s the most support I've had in a while, and I'm thankful” I glide my thumb across the back of her hand a few times before I lower it, but don’t let go, pulling her along on the walk.

Between the sunshine, the walk, and the pleasant company, I'm feeling better, like my old self. Although I say that, I know what happened warrants a few more conversations and it will take a little time for Lin to be sure this isn’t just a lone spike in my serotonin. We’ve gotten close to the water and I can hear the water crashing onto the beach. Still holding Lin’s hand, I pull her towards the noise and look over a small half wall. The beach is empty and I look to Lin. I haven’t enjoyed any aspect of a beach in years and just want to continue our walk on it. She guides me to the opening allowing us access to the sand and I can see her smile out of the corner of my eye. Since it's been a while since I've been to a beach, I haven’t had the chance to practice sand bending.

“Let’s see some bending,” Lin says as if she was able to hear what I was thinking.

“Oh uh, I don’t know. It’s been a while since i’ve practiced with sand” She gives my hand a squeeze before letting go and stepping back. 

“You can do it. Just give it a try” I close my eyes and try to focus on the smaller particles, slowly beginning to move my arms in the circular motions until they are both over my head and I swing them back and around to the front causing sand to project forward. I feel two hands on my arms and feel Lin lean into my ear, “See, I knew you had it in you, just needed a little confidence is all” I turn my head to look at her and look into her jade green eyes. 

As our walk is coming to an end, I look to her, “Are you staying again tonight?”

“Well that’s up to you. How are you feeling about everything that happened and staying home alone?” The truth is, I’m fine, but I kind of don’t want her to go. I never said anything, but when my alarm went off this morning, she was holding me while my arms were wrapped around her waist and my head resting on her chest; it was amazing.

“I think i’ll be ok” as much as I want her to stay, I can’t for my own selfish reasons.

“Ok. I don’t like the word ‘think’ being in that response, but i’ll take your word for it. You also have my home number, so you call me if you need anything”

“You got it Chief” I give her a mock salute to match getting a chuckle out of her, “But really Lin, thank you, you’re amazing. How did I get so lucky to be friends with you?” She looks down in an attempt to hide her blush. I grab her hand as we walk to my door and I unlock it. We don’t let go of each other as she grabs her keys and I walk her to the door. Just before she can walk off the steps, I turn her around and look into her eyes one last time.

“Thank you again” I raise her hand to my lips and place a gentle kiss on the back of it, smiling at the blush she gets again. This time she doesn’t hide it though, instead smiling at me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone liked it! I've been in a constant state of needing cuddles for the last two years so writing progress this slows getting to me.
> 
> With that said, I might write some one shots of fluff for Lin/Reader  
> also, does anyone here like criminal minds too? I'm thinking of doing some one shots for Emily Pretties/Reader
> 
> Let me know what y'all think.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to work on another story. Hope y'all like it!


End file.
